Inamorata, Inamorato
by kirschstein
Summary: For once, Gray is not on the receiving end of an one-sided love.
1. Realization

**Hi! I've been reading fanfics for a while, but this is my first time actually writing one. I've never been much of a writer, but I need to practice for some upcoming important events. I figured writing fanfics would be a nice fun way to do it. I need more of Gray x Lucy in my life too. I love them so much 3 Thanks for giving this a chance!**

***03/16 minor spelling and grammar edits were made**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

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Chapter 1: Realization

"Mira-san! One glass of beer here please!"

As she brought out the requested beverage, Mirajane gazed at her blonde-haired customer with concern.

"Are you sure, Lucy? This is your fifth beer already. Aren't you drinking a little too much?"

Lucy merely shrugged and proceeded to angrily chug down her refilled drink. The barmaid was right—the blonde _was _drinking a lot more than usual. Normally she'd stop after a glass or two even when the rest of the guild members were drinking until they passed out; it was definitely an abnormality for her to down five huge glasses in a row without even stopping for a rest. Mira tried questioning Lucy about her unusual behavior, but all she got as a response was another shrug and a "I feel like drinking today."

Gray sat a few seats away in the bar, observing the two girls. He too had noticed Lucy's sudden inclination to drinking, and was staring at the celestial mage with a deep frown etched onto his face. Sure, his teammate's reckless drinking worried him, but mostly just because he didn't want her to throw up all over the floor. At the moment his most dominant emotion was not concern, but frustration. Because he, unlike Mirajane, knew what—or _who_, to be more precise—was bothering Lucy.

For the past few weeks, Gray had been feeling extremely uncomfortable going on missions with his team. It wasn't that he had a quarrel with his teammates, or that they were shunning him for some unknown reason. In fact, his relationship with Natsu, Lucy, and Erza had not changed at all. Natsu would still challenge him to meaningless brawls, Erza would smack them hard on the head for causing a ruckus, and Lucy would sigh and shake her head. Every mission they went on would end in them somehow destroying the client's city and having to pay for damages. Same old team, same old stuff.

There was one thing that _did_ change, however, and it bothered Gray to no end.

It was the way Lucy looked at Natsu.

Gray had always thought Lucy had a natural glow to her, due to her bright personality. But recently, whenever her dragonslayer friend came into her sight, that glow would intensify. Light practically radiated out of her, a light so bright that it almost hurt to watch. And her eyes—those warm, innocent brown eyes—would sparkle as if they held stars inside. Although the blonde was not one to express her emotions as overtly as a certain blue-haired water mage did, the truth was painfully obvious in her demeanor: Lucy Heartfilia was hopelessly in love with Natsu Dragneel.

Love was great, and Gray wouldn't deny it; it was the strongest bond possible between two human beings, one that added color to an otherwise ashen world. However, as beautiful as it was, it was one of those things one could not pull off alone, or as some liked to call it, a two way street. What point was there in loving someone else if one was not loved back? Such one-sided emotions led only to heartbreak and embarrassing actions. An unrequited love was not really love at all, but instead a waste of emotion.

There were people, however, that chose to let such futile emotions get to them, and honestly Gray thought they were a pain in the ass. They were all dreamy, living in their illusions of being with their love. The most trivial things such as a simple "hello" from their beloved would make them so stupidly happy. And the way they would desperately try to attract the attention of the other person! Pathetic! But worst of all, what annoyed Gray the most, was the visible pain in their faces when they realized they were "just a friend"(or even less) to the object of their affections. The ice mage hated to look at those dejected faces—they were so miserable that they made _him_ feel bad, even when he had nothing to do with those people.

Gray thought he had enough trouble with such people having to deal with a doting Juvia. But then Lucy had to come along.

It was obvious that Natsu didn't share Lucy's feelings. Romance was the last thing on his carefree, childish mind—the celestial mage was only an extra-close nakama to him. Whenever Lucy tried to subtly flirt with him, the fire mage would either laugh it off or respond with a stare and a "You're weird, Lucy." On these occasions Lucy would put on the dejected face Gray hated so much. She would immediately replace that face with one of her bright smiles, but the crestfallen look in her eyes was impossible to hide. It was funny how Natsu could make Lucy both glow the most and dampen the most.

Gray continued to watch Lucy get herself drunk(she was on her sixth beer now). He could tell from the look in her eyes that her unreciprocated emotions were yet again the cause of her gloom and unusual behavior. The ice mage didn't like having to see one of his closest friends be so..._pitiful_. It wasn't like her to let another sway her emotions like that. She was the last person he would expect to engage in an one-sided love; yet she did, and as her teammate he had to witness her misery from great proximity. How annoying. And of all the great people out there to love, why that idiotic Natsu?

Well, staring at Lucy with a frown wasn't going to help him rid of his annoyance, and he couldn't stand it anymore. So Gray stood up and walked over to where she was sitting. As he plopped down in the seat next to her, he asked,

"...You like him that much?"

The blonde visibly stiffened for a moment before she turned to face the raven-haired boy. "H-huh?"

"Natsu. He did something insensitive again today, didn't he?"

Lucy blanched as she processed her questioner's words. "Wh-what are you talking about?"

"C'mon Lucy. You know exactly what I'm talking about. You tried to make a romantic move on Natsu, and he didn't respond. That's why you're angry and drinking like this. I'm your teammate, Lucy. Don't try to lie to me; I know you well enough to tell what's going on in your mind by the look in your eyes. And let me tell you, it's not like you to act this pathetically just because of that ash-brain."

"Pathetic? How rude!" said Lucy, slamming down her beer onto the tabletop. After looking cautiously around, she leaned in closer to the boy in front of her, face tomato red. She hissed in a lowered voice, "H-how long have you known?"

"Since the very beginning." said Gray with a smirk. "Look Lucy, I see that you like Natsu very much for some mysterious reason, but seriously. Snap out of it. All you're doing is sulk around because he doesn't like you back—you have to admit that's pathetic."

Lucy looked down at her drink dismally. "...I don't sulk around."

"You're sulking right now."

"But I—"

"You know he's too stupid to ever return your feelings, don't you?"

Gray instantly regretted his words as he saw the pang of hurt in Lucy's eyes at his forthright comment. But he couldn't take it back; it was to save her from much more pain in the future. He was about to open his mouth to give the celestial mage a lecture on how she should forget about Natsu and move on when she whispered,

"I know." She looked up at the ceiling as she continued on, "Today I tried to ask him on a date, to go eat lunch with me. Of course he said yes, but he wanted to bring along Happy and some other guild members. I told him I wanted it to be just the two of us... You know what he said? 'Why the hell would you want it to be just the two of us? That's boring.' So my 'date' ended up being a massive friend's get-together." She smiled wistfully. "It happens all the time, I know. But it seems like I'll never get used to it...And I wore a pretty new dress for the occasion too."

Gray was at a loss for words. Honestly, he was taken aback; he hadn't expected her to admit it so easily, and didn't know how to react. All he managed to mutter was "What are you, a Juvia?" and then mentally slapped himself for being so stupid.

Lucy let out a half-hearted chuckle. "Maybe. You know, you should be nicer to her. She probably feels the same way I do, the way you act so indifferently to her."

Not wanting to change the focus of the conversation to himself, the ice mage shrugged and looked away. Lucy let out a heavy sigh. "Well, I'm not one to be giving out love advice." And for the seventh time that day, she yelled out, "Mira-san! One glass of beer here please!"

* * *

"Graaaaay~ You smell like a penguiiin~"

"Shut up Lucy. You're heavy."

After fifteen consecutive glasses of beer, Lucy was left completely incapacitated of doing anything except saying slurred incoherent things and giggling. Gray had picked her up on his back before Mira could ask Natsu and was taking her back to her apartment. Although he was still worried that she'd throw up(this time it would be worse because it would be on his back), and she was hanging onto his neck so tightly he was almost choking, there was no way he'd let _Natsu_ come closer to Lucy when she was so insecure like this. He was partially responsible too, since he just sat quietly and watched her get this drunk.

Once he reached their destination, Gray set the girl he carried down on the bed and crouched down to help her take of her boots. Of course, Lucy was too giddy from the alcohol to cooperate, and flailed her legs around giggling wildly.

"For heaven's sake Lucy! Will you please stop that! I'm trying to help you here!"

She kicked him on the nose.

"OW! WHY YOU LITTLE..."

He didn't finish his sentence-he couldn't yell at Lucy. Not today. With a sigh, he stood up from his crouching position and sat down next to his drunken friend on the bed. "...You really are a pain in the ass, you know?" he said, and raised a hand to pat her head.

Gray gazed down into Lucy's warm chocolate brown orbs and smiled. Other than her lovesick mood changes from time to time, she hadn't changed much—still reckless, clumsy, spazzy, whiny, overly self confident...yet cute. Cute, energetic, courageous, intelligent, amazingly determined and kind. _Beautiful_. So beautiful, both inwardly and outwardly, that no man on earth would ever be good enough for her—not even, no, _especially _that flaming bastard she was so smitten with. The gentle smile on his face was now replaced by another deep frown. His former annoyance was quickly building up as anger; a girl like Lucy should not be wasting her emotions on someone that did not even appreciate her striking beauty. A girl like her should be treated as a princess. _Loved back_. Not rely on alcohol to forget her pains. Heck, she shouldn't have any pain in her life in the first place.

Moonlight shone on Lucy's grinning face as she looked up at Gray. It made her look so pristine and innocent, even more than usual, but it also made the sad, dampened glow of her eyes stand out. That look added the final blow to Gray's swelling anger, and something inside him popped. Without stopping to think twice, he grabbed the shoulders of the still giggling blonde seated next to him, pulled her towards him, angled his head to the side, slowly shut his lids...

And kissed her.

He saw her eyes widen in surprise as his cool lips crushed on her warm ones, as he pressed her petite form tightly against his body. He kissed and kissed and kissed her, savoring her taste and the soft feeling of her lips—it was amazing how her breath could still be so sweet even after drinking that much. His mind was flooded by emotions he never felt before, and his heart pounded against his chest like crazy; it felt so _darn good_ to feel her this way, to hold her so close, he couldn't let go.

He didn't stop until he realized Lucy wasn't responding to him at all. She squirmed uncomfortably under his grasp, eyes darting around awkwardly. Suddenly back to his senses, Gray yanked his head back so hard it banged against the bedpost.

"Whoa! Lu-lucy! I'm sorry—I mean, I didn't mean to... I was just..." _What the hell have I done?!_

Lucy stared at him intently for what seemed like forever. This time, Gray couldn't decipher the look in her eyes; was it shock? Hate? Disgust? Confusion? Maybe all four? He wouldn't blame her—he deserved to be slapped and kicked on the nose again for attacking her like that. Then, much to his surprise, Lucy burst out laughing.

"Ahahaha! Stupid Graaaaay~"

Right. She was still too drunk to think clearly and get angry. Gray had no idea why she was laughing, but figured it would be best for him to leave at this point. With a curt goodbye, he stood up and ran out of the apartment, stumbling a little and slamming the door shut behind him.

Once outside, he leaned against the wall and covered his face with shaking hands. His heart was still beating like crazy. After a few deep breaths, he turned to start banging his head on the wall. He couldn't believe himself; he wanted to go jump off a cliff and disappear. Because he knew exactly what those emotions he felt kissing Lucy were. As much as he hated to do so, it was time for him to face the glaring truth:

He was a Juvia too, after all.

...Well, fuck.

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**That was actually the hardest thing I ever had to do. You have no idea how long it took me to write this. How do you people do it?!**

**I know, it could've been a lot better... I admit the whole thing was a bit abrupt and needed some more development, but with my skills this was the best I could do. And lol I should never have attempted a kiss scene in my first time writing. But it had to be done for the story's sake.**

**This was just written for practice, so I don't know if I'll continue it or not. I do have a basic storyline plotted though.**

**Please, tell me what you thought so that I can improve and write better stories for my beloved OTP! :)**


	2. Pathetic

**Thank you all so much for your kind reviews! They were very encouraging and motivated me so much to write. Now I'm worried to disappoint all of you kind readers... The plan was to finish this in two weeks and I succeeded. Whoo!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. If I did, it would be a romance story of Gray and Lucy.**

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Chapter 2: Pathetic

He has been avoiding her for a week now.

_Hiding_ would be a better verb to use, actually. Ever since _that _night, the night he kissed his drunken teammate by surprise, Gray has been investing much effort into staying out of Lucy's sight. Whenever he heard the sound of clinking keys or someone call out "Lucy!", he immediately dropped what he was doing, ducked down, and crawled into the nearest opening available. He spent Monday inside a closet. Tuesday to Thursday in the men's bathroom. Friday in between two large garbage cans. Saturday and Sunday were more pleasant—he learned his lesson and stayed home.

His compulsion to conceal himself didn't go unnoticed, of course, and often he was asked "What the hell are you doing, Gray?" by puzzled guildmates. On those occasions he would mumble an excuse like "I lost my shirt"(which was true) and continue crawling away while pretending to search the floor.

It wasn't that Gray didn't want to see Lucy. It was actually the exact opposite; his entire body ached to see her smile, to hear her laugh, to smell her vanilla perfume. And that was exactly why he was hiding. He didn't _want to_ want to see her.

Gray knew, better than anybody else, who Lucy's heart belonged to. Not him. _Natsu_. Yet, although he had even acknowledged this fact out loud, and although he had derisively labeled those who engage in one-sided love as 'pathetic', there he was, letting his heart beat for a girl who loved another. Most of his day was spent replaying the kiss he stole from her. At nights, he dreamed of holding her in his arms and woke up with her name on the tip of his tongue. He often found himself picturing her face in everything he saw: the sky, the stars, the wall, and even his breakfast cereal. The ray of sunlight that shone through his window on mornings was her golden hair; the chirping of birds outside was her merry laugh. She was everywhere—no matter how hard he tried, Gray simply could liberate his thoughts from her.

He himself was pathetic. Hypocritical, too.

Cursing his heart for being so susceptible, Gray told himself that what he was feeling was just a fleeting emotion caused by the mood of the moment. Yes, that must be it! It was the moonlight that played a naughty trick on his mind. Staying away from Lucy will surely make his puny feelings go away. Apparently a week was not enough for that, so he would just have to hide a little longer. He would continue staying home or take on a long solo mission, maybe.

Things never go as planned though.

* * *

After spending the weekend stuck at home, Gray finally mustered enough courage to step into the guild once again. It was out of absolute necessity; he had to look for that long solo mission he was thinking about. The ice mage was carefully scanning the request board when he heard Levy shout, "Lu-chan! Over here!" Instinctively, he stooped down and stealthily crept towards the guild exit. He had come prepared to flee when needed. Avoiding Lucy at the moment was a priority—looking for a mission could wait. He failed to realize, however, that the top of his raven hair was visible over the tabletops. And the one person he was trying to hide from didn't miss it.

Gray froze as the voice he both dreaded and yearned to hear called out his name from behind.

"Gray!"

Shit.

"I haven't seen you all last week! What are you doing?"

His throat went dry and his mind screamed, _keep moving!_ But his body, hungry for what it had been missing for seven full days, whirled around without consent—a little too eagerly, even—to finally face the blonde girl standing before him. She looked as beautiful as ever as she bent down to look down at him, golden hair falling over her shoulders. Her rosy lips were curled around her pearly white teeth to form a wide, dazzling smile. Sunlight illuminated her back, adding an ethereal aura to her natural glow—for a moment Gray thought she might be an angel.

He remained frozen in his crouched position, completely enraptured by the sight. His previous thoughts of avoiding Lucy had completely dissipated. The commotion of the guild slowly faded away in the background as Gray stood there, staring; at that moment all that mattered was that Lucy was there right in front of him, smiling at _him _and _him only._ He wished his magic could freeze time so that he could relish the blissful moment forever.

It wasn't until Lucy let out a small cough that he caught himself gaping and looked away. Realizing that she was still waiting for an answer, he opened his mouth to respond, "...I lost my shirt."

Thankfully, Lucy did not seem to have noticed the shakiness of his voice. With a playful smirk, she said, "Ah, and your pants too, I see."

Gray looked down and saw blue checkered boxers.

"Whoa! When did that happen?!" He yelled, jumping up.

Lucy snickered and held out a bundle of clothing she had been holding behind her back to her nude friend. "Here, I found these lying by the table over there. Figured you'd be missing them."

Gray mumbled a thank you, and Lucy replied with a rather proud "You're very welcome." Silence ensued as she watched him tug on his pants again. Gray was unsure of what to do or say. His heart was leaping with joy from being with Lucy; but to stay close to her was a complete deviation from his plan, something he pledged not to do until his emotions were back to normal. A guilty pleasure. _Remember Gray, _he told himself, _you're being pathetic. Absolutely pathetic, pathetic, pathetic. Leave now while you still can._

He was pulling on his shirt while seeking an escape route out of the corner of his eye when Lucy broke the silence.

"...Gray, can we talk for a moment?"

Oh _hell no_.

Panicking, he stuttered out, "W-What? Why?"

Lucy blushed slightly. "It's about... last week.."

Gray paled. Could it be possible that she remembered what happened that night? She had been so drunk, he had assumed that she wouldn't remember a thing. Maybe he was wrong. Not all people completely blacked out after drinking, after all. What if she was mad at him? What if she thought he was a despicable pervert? She probably did.

"About what you said regarding Natsu..."

Oh.

Her words cut through his heart like daggers. Right, what was he thinking? Of course that would be what she wanted to talk about. There was no Gray in Lucy's mind. There was only Natsu.

"So, can we go talk?" Lucy asked again.

Gray stared at her for a moment, a glint of sadness in his eyes. He would much rather have her lash out at him for kissing her than hear her talk about her love for another man. But then again, this was a perfect opportunity for him to uproot the emotions that have been bothering him. It would make it clear to his heart that Lucy was not for him. Out of bounds. Once it got the message, it would surely give up; everything would finally be back to normal.

In a determined but reluctant voice, Gray replied, "Yeah, sure."

* * *

"Oh, by the way, thanks for taking me home that night. Mira-san told me."

They were walking towards nowhere in particular, Lucy balancing herself on the canal ledge and Gray trudging along behind.

Gray shrugged. "No big deal. I was on my way home anyway." He added in a more impatient tone, "Oi, can you get off that ledge? I'm not catching you if you fall into the water."

Lucy pouted. "Why are you men so overprotective? I won't fall. I'm not that stupid." She stopped walking and let out a small sigh before turning around to face her companion. Another blush had made its way to her face. "You...didn't tell anyone, did you? That I like Natsu?"

_Here it comes._ Although Gray had been mentally preparing himself while walking, his heart throbbed to hear Lucy state the truth out loud. Masking his internal pain with his usual scowl, he answered in the most nonchalant way he could manage, "No. It's pretty obvious though. I wouldn't be surprised if the entire guild knew."

An embarrassed laugh. "Is it really?" Her face darkened as she looked down at her feet. Almost in a whisper, she said, "_He_ doesn't know though."

"Lucy..."

"But!"

Gray jumped back in surprise as Lucy suddenly jerked her head up, a new look of determination in her eyes.

"I don't care if he doesn't! That's what I wanted to tell you. I'm not going to sulk anymore because of Natsu. You're right, that's pathetic."

He felt a spark of hope inside. Did she mean she was going to give up on Natsu?

"I'm going to start fighting harder for my love!"

The spark died.

He looked at her face. The dark expression from a second ago was replaced by one of her radiant, cheerful grins. It was a face that had the power of brightening up his day, of making him grin back even in the worst of times. This time, however, it drilled a hole in his heart, filling it with only anguish. _This is better for both of us_, he forced himself to think, _Lucy will be happy, and I'll move on. _He wanted to praise her confidence and cheer her on, but all he managed to choke out was, "Didn't we agree on that flame-brain is too stupid for love?"

"That was before. I wasn't trying hard enough back then." She hopped off the ledge, stepped up to him, and flashed him an even wider grin. "A person's mind is capable of change! It's just a matter of effort you put into it. You'll see."

With that, the blonde waved goodbye, yelled "But you're still not allowed to tell anyone!" and started skipping back in the direction of the guild. Gray just stood there, dumbfounded. Lucy's last words kept echoing in his mind.

_A person's mind is capable of change._

_A person's mind is capable of change._

_A person's mind is capable of change._

For the first time in a week, Gray felt a smile creep up to his face. As he turned to walk back home, his steps were noticeably lighter than before; his previous worries and heartache were gone, and a new sense of optimism filled their place. Because he found a solution that would cure his patheticalness, that didn't involve him giving up on anything.

It was simple, really. So what if Lucy didn't love him back? If she loved Natsu instead?

He just had to change her mind.

* * *

**I don't know about this chapter... One moment I like it, but then when I read it again I hate it. Love really is a complicated emotion, isn't it? I couldn't find the right words to describe what Gray was feeling. Damn you Gray, for making this so hard for me.**

**I thought of a cute dialogue I really want to use, but it will have to wait till the last chapter. I have a looong way to go! Sigh. The most recent anime episode has opened my heart up to NaLu again. Now I'm considering a major plot revision. Hmmm...**

**Please, tell me what you thought so that I can improve and write better stories for my beloved OTP! :)**


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